CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Retirees in West Virginia won’t have to pay taxes on their social security income for much longer.
January 1 will mark the final year of a three-year phase out of state taxes on Social Security benefits. Former Governor Jim Justice signed legislation that started with a 35 percent cut in 2024, 65 percent in 2025 and 100 percent in 2026.
Taxpayers will not see the full exemption until they file their taxes in 2027.
“All of the income that you receive during that 2026 tax year, when you file for those 2026 taxes, that’s when you’ll see the 100 percent exemption of social security income,” said Associate Director of AARP West Virginia Tom Hunter.
Hunter says the Mountain State was well behind the eight-ball nationally when it came to the tax.
“This was a huge step forward for the state, who had been an outlier in this regard as one of only a handful of states that were still taxing a state income tax on those Social Security benefits earned over a lifetime of hard work,” Hunter told MetroNews. “This was a good step forward for the legislature, particularly as it tries to take more measures and more steps towards making West Virginia a more retirement-friendly destination.”
Some legislators, as well as Justice and AARP West Virginia wanted the full exemption in one year’s time.
Hunter says lawmakers got the job done and made it work.
“Compromise certainly won the day in this regard,” said Hunter. “Fortunately, once the bill began to move upstairs at the Capitol, through the legislative process, there was compromise on both the House and the Senate side to make this happen in a practical, common-sense matter.”
“While we understood the budget constraints and the challenges within the state budget, we certainly were happy to see the legislature take a common-sense approach to address it in a phase-out manner,” he continued.